Month: December 2016

On the third night of Hanukkah, we lit the hand-dipped beeswax candles, sang the blessing, and sat down to a latka extravaganza. Latkes are one of those dishes, similar to apple pie, that never comes close to right when eaten outside of your mother’s or grandmother’s kitchen. I hate to spoil it, but it’s usually…

For all you Jews out there, I hope you enjoyed your Chinese restaurant dining experience. It’s amazing how a tradition like that comes about. If in 100 years from now our decedents are gathered in ritual around a big plate of General Tso’s chicken, we’ll know we’ve successfully left our mark on the cloth of…

Today marks the first day of Hanukkah. It’s also Christmas Eve, but as I don’t come from Christian traditions, I’ll leave the waxing poetic on that history to someone else. For the eight days of the festival of lights, or the celebration of the blessed oil that lasted eight days, we’ll be exploring the importance…

When’s the last time you ate a chestnut? Probably years ago, freezing your tuchkus off waiting for the Christmas parade or tree lighting ceremony to get going, right? Well, let me tell you, chestnuts need to reclaim their rightful place on the stovetop, not just on an open fire. Surprisingly, not too many folks in…

Introduction: Are we what we eat? (excerpt from the book) Laying on the couch after a long day of school, a cerulean and silver sea of glistening wrappers scattered below me. Snap, Crackle and Pop were my afternoon pals. The big box store down the street had conveniently packaged enough for two days of television…

My Food Rules Cook: Cook with single ingredient foods as much as possible. Cook for and with others. Cook it all. Cook for the body and the soul. Have a relationship with your ingredients: Grow food without synthetic fertilizers or commercial pesticides or source from someone who does. If the bugs eat it, then you…

For the past 5 years the people around me have asked “When are you going to write a cook book?” I kept telling them that when I’m snowed in on a farm for a winter, that’ll be the time. Now is that time! It’s turning out to be a manifesto, a cook book, a description…